Singularity
I shall continue my ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds and go where no Wikian has ever gone before to review as many games as possible with Wikia blogs! Time for my second review, Singularity! Gameplay/Fun Factor I feel bad for Raven Software. They have made some of the most fun first-person shooters I have ever played, and always get low sales and mediocre reviews. Star Trek: Elite Force, Wolfenstein (2009), and of course, Singularity. Right off the bat, I would like to say Singularity is one of the most fun shooters I have ever played. The guns are all unique and fun to shoot, including a shotgun (what fps is complete without one?) a Sniper Rifle that allows you to slow down time, a grenade launcher where you can guide the grenade around corners before exploding, a rifle that allows time to slow down and lets you guide the bullet right around walls and into the enemy's head, etc. Plus, their is the TMD, or Time Manipulation Device, which allows you to rapidly age or renew objects in the world, which can be used to assist in combat or complete simple puzzles, plus you'll find it will gain many more uses later in the game, my favorite of which is when you can turn the enemy soldiers into mutants. As for enemies, thankfully it doesn't suffer from what many first person shooters suffer from, the same bland enemy soldier that shoots back. Singularity supplies you quite a few unique monsters that are all fun to fight. And also, boss fights rarely work in first-person shooters, but Raven has been able to make them work. While they are not as fun as the boss fights in Raven's previous game, Wolfenstein, they are still very well made and quite fun to fight. One complaint I have however is that it is too short. It is long, but I found myself wanting more when it was over. Compared to Call of Duty This isn't your average Call of Duty-esqe shooter. It's not tied by the bounds of realism, it is science fiction, which allows the designers to be free with doing what they want to do and design an incredibly fun game. Compared to Petz: Dolphin Adventures lolwut? Campaign I'm not going to give away spoilers, but the story... Isn't the best story in the world, however is still quite enjoyable. It's not the overall story that makes it great, it's how it's told. Think of this game as a bit of a combination between Bioshock and Wolfenstein. Same great action and monsters like you'd expect form Wolfenstein, along with the few scares, simple puzzles, and audio recordings of the previous residents of the area that allow you to piece back story together yourself. One of the main things that impresses me about the campaign is how it isn't just a horror, and it isn't just an action game. You'll find that it will switch out often. One minute your fighting off tons of russian soldiers in an intense firefight, next minute you'll be creeping through some tunnels listening to the disturbing sounds of the mutants on Katorga-12 and encounter some disturbing apparitions as well. It's scary, but not scary enough to drive away horror haters like myself. Compared to Bioshock Obviously alot of inspiration was taken from Bioshock. But that in no way is a bad thing. Bioshock is one of the best games ever made, and I in no way think that Raven shouldn't of made Singularity the way it is just to not be like a different game. Compared to Call of Duty Well, there is shooting. But really, you can't compare the two that much. Multiplayer The multiplayer, as long as you can find a match, is extremely fun. Sadly, there are only two modes to play, however plenty of maps, and the two modes are both really fun. Both of which are team-based, and are basically humans vs. monsters, which works extremely well. I love being on the monsters side, where you get to play as four of the monsters you encounter in the campaign, my favorite being the Zek, which have powerful melee attacks and can temporalily go invincible, and the Tic, which can crawl up on walls and ceiling and allow you to take control of whatever enemy soldier was unfortunate enough to run into you. I was concerned about the game being unbalanced because of this, but it really isn't. Humans win matches just as much as monsters do. My main complaint is the fact that, while there is a ranking system and achievements to get, you don't have much reason to go back to the multiplayer. It is not like Call of Duty or Bioshock 2 where there is always more stuff to unlock, so it doesn't have the addiction factor that Call of Duty has. Compared to Wolfenstein After playing Raven's previous game, Wolfenstein, multiplayer I was skeptical about Singularity being good. Wolfenstein's multiplayer was quite mediocre and disappointing. Singularity's multiplayer is not, however. While it could of been given a bit more, Singularity's multiplayer is still very fun. Wolfenstein's multiplayer? Not so much. Compared to Bioshock 2 Not very comparable. While Bioshock may be similar to Singularity in campaign, it's multiplayer is more it's own. Overall Singularity is yet another one of Raven's masterpieces. It is one of my favorite games, and I do not in any way regret buying it. It may not have the best multiplayer in the world, or the best graphics, but it is still incredibly fun to play. As for how much I'd be willing to pay for it, due to the campaign that isn't as long as I'd like it to be and non-addictive multiplayer, I probably wouldn't go over $35, which is actually more then it's current retail price. It is still incredibly fun and a great game to have. Originally written on December 30th, 2011. Category:2011 Reviews